The Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) has called on voters to disregard a result being shared on social media showing that the opposition New Patriotic Party has scored over 54 per cent of votes cast from 80 per cent of the country’s polling stations.In a statement posted on its Twitter handle, the ECG described the result as fake.
The commission also stated that voting has been extended in Afram Plains South constituency and is still on-going in Jaman North constituency on Thursday.
“Update: NO official results have been declared by the EC. No final constituency results are in. There is no declared winner yet. The EC undertook a hugely successful election yesterday. Let us trust the process for the results. We will keep you updated minute by minute.
“No final results can be declared until Jaman North has had the privilege of voting today. We call upon the people of Ghana to respect the process and keep faith with the EC. Results will be out as soon as they are available.
The website of the electoral commission also crashed for some hours early on Thursday before it was restored. The commission said the website was hacked. It said that the attempted hack was an attack on its integrity and independence.
“We deplore the attempt to hack the EC’s website. Please respect the integrity and independence of the EC.”
The commission had early announced that it may take up to 72 hours before it would release the result of the poll.
Meanwhile, supporters of both leading political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition party New Patriotic Party (NPP), are claiming early leads from results collated from unofficial sources.
A statement by the campaign organisation of incumbent President John Mahama, praised the conduct of the election as “very smooth and orderly”. It also commended the large turnout during the election.
The statement, signed by its spokesperson Joyce Mogtari implored supporters of the president to remain calm while they await the announcement of the result. It however stated that details from its Parallel Vote Tabulation put Mr. Mahama “in a comfortable lead.”
